How To Keep Your Identity Safe Online

Identity fraud used to be a thing of James Bond films and spy thrillers that involved getting false papers and false passports and then killing the people who provided them so no-one knew. Sadly or not the world has moved on a lot from those halcyon days, and identity fraud is a real issue nowadays that people need to be aware of.

Part of the problem is that no-one knows how real a threat it actually is.

The obvious potential for fraud is great and most people know that because of the amount of personal information that is slushing around the internet about people, as well as the amount of information that is collected by institutions such as banks and insurance companies as well as by governments, both national and local.

All this information is stored electronically either online or as a stand alone database, but which is theoretically able to be hacked and your details got hold off.

So the potential for someone getting hold of your details is huge.What we don't really know is how likely it is for it to happen.The main bunch of people who are the real merchants of doom about this and always telling us how careful we need to be are the very people trying to sell us the software to stop it happening in the first place. So they have a very vested interest in keeping people frightened enough in the first place so they buy the product - a very old and well tried and tested sales technique that works wonders.

The problem is that people are left knowing there is a danger but not knowing how real the danger is, and not really any way of finding out. Banks and other institutions are notoriously reluctant to go public with details of online thefts and fraud because they fear it would damage their credibility and reputation, (which it would) in a world where they want people to do everything online because it reduces their costs and they can close branches, sack people etc etc.

The only real safeguard is to be vigilant - sounds corny but true.

If some one steals your identity, its for a reason like getting a credit card in your name, getting into your bank account etc, and the main place you need to be vigilant is online. Things like changing passwords etc can be a real bore but if you want motivation to do it, do an online search for someone who has had their identity nicked, and you will see just what a nightmare it can be.

Keep safe